Moonlight Through the Leaves
by Hikari-Chimedekina-Neko
Summary: Because Shinigami aren't the only spirits hidden from human sight. And Karakura's local guardian Kodama had decied that the little ginger kid didn't deserve to be killed by that Hollow after his mother tried so hard. - AU-ish, Stronger/Smarter!Ichigo, no OCxCanon
1. Prologue

I'm starting another multi-chapter fic, even though I have two others to deal with (even if one has been on a kind of Hiatus for forever.)

So, this, like most all of my stories, has been floating around in my head for forever, and now, I'm gonna post this part and see how well you guys like this idea. If you guys do, I'll post the next part, if not... I'll probably do it anyways.

This will have some divergence from canon. I've watched most all of the anime, but I haven't been keeping up with the manga beyond what they put on the Bleach Wiki, so some details will probably end up a little different.

Anyways, here's the prologue! Enjoy!

Disclaimer; Who the fuck owns anything but plot and OC's on this site?

* * *

Karakura town was, while sub-urban, still fairly small for a city. And since it was small, there wasn't much to see.

But, what was there to see wasn't too bad. Like this one thing in particular, maybe it wasn't overly exciting, but it was something. It was... well...

A tree.

A Japanese cedar to be exact. A very _old_ one, standing tall and strong on top of a hill in the forest in the larger park in Karakura. If you climbed it, you could see a good ways around the forest and town, even the river that cuts through the town. It would be rather impressive, if dangerous, as nearly 220 feet high is.

As stated, the cedar is very old, several hundred years old, if scientist and environmentalists counting the rings from a pencil thin cylindrical cut out piece from the trunk confirmed anything. It was the oldest tree in the entire district, and rightly so; it was considered sacred by some monk a long time ago, as marked by the Shimenawa encircling the trunk. Maybe because it was in the direct center of the tall hill, maybe something else. Who knows? But, it was everything but outright illegal to cut down trees marked with a Shimenawa. But, while there wasn't a temple, or even a Torii gate, there was an old, stone Hokora, standing just as proudly as the tree it honors, even with the natural dilapidation.

It was called Kyuujou Sugi. And honestly, he didn't have an overly exciting life.

Ah, sorry, you must not understand why I suddenly seem to be speaking of a tree like a person.

_"WOULD YOU GET ON WITH IT ALREADY."_

I mean Kyuujou, the Kodama living in the cedar.

Kyuujou was probably the closest thing to a guardian deity Karakura had without him being hailed an outright god. Since his tree was the oldest, he was the oldest spirit in the districs as well. This gave him the right to, in a sense, rule over the other younger local spirits. Karakura (and a few of the surrounding districts) was his territory, has been for over 800 years, and he would damn any unruly spirit who tried to mess with it.

And boy did he have a time with that.

Karakura had a naturally above average amount of spiritual energies in it, leading to Hollows and other nasty beings being slightly more common than other areas. While he usually allowed the current locally assigned Shinigami to deal with the Hollows, Kyuujou was left with all the other negative spirites that pop up. Even though most yokai/bakemono/oni/etc. have integrated the best they can with modern humans, some still took advantage of their unseen state; Amanojaku whispering insentives to do bad and/or illegal things into peoples ears, Kappas trying to drown children, vengeful Zashiki-warashi who's houses were destroyed, he even had a bad run in with an Amazake-babaa who caused an outbreak of pneumonia about 90 years back. Only sometimes would he interfere with a Hollow if it was causing too much trouble for the Shinigami.

He wasn't alone in this though, he had the younger spirits dwelling in the parks and living in town, as well as benevolent spirits that passed through sometimes.

Life was life. And he honsetly was fine with it, even if it could be a bit lackluster and troublesome at tumes.

And in all his nearly 850 years, did he ever imagine the ride that he was about to endure when he decided to step in and save a peculiar orange haired kid from a Hollow.

* * *

And done! Hope you guys liked this. And now; Terminology! I'll be putting definitions and such here at the bottom for some of the more obscure Japanese terms I'll be using.

_Shimenawa _- That rope with the papers hanging from it. It's seen most commonly wrapped around trees or rocks or hanging from Torii gates or shrines, signifying that the object or space is considered holy or pure by the Shinto religeon. Cutting down trees with a Shimenawa is thought to bring misfortune, while on the other hand it is said that the Shimenawa acts as a ward against Evil spirits.

_Hokora_ - While I'm sure most anime fans can recognise the iconic red Torii gate, I don't believe most will recognise a Hokora (or Hokura) shrine. They are basically mini shrines dedicated to folk kami or, when on the streetside, to house minor kami not under the jurisdiction of the local major kami, who protected travelers from evil. If you've played Pokemon Gold/Silver, the little structure in Ilex forest where you get Celebi is actually a Hokora shrine.

_Kodama, Amanojaku, Amazake-babaa, Kappa, and Zashiki-Warashi_ - I will be both making refernces to and having characters be several different Japanese spirits and demons. You might recognise a few from other anime/manga or even video games, such as Kodama (Shin Megami Tensei and Mononoke Hime), Kappa (several), and the Zashiki-Warashi (xxxHolic and MONONOKE), but other spirits, not so much. A look through the 'List of legendary creatures from Japan' on wikipedia and you'll find all the ones I'll mention since that's my go to for them.

_Kyuujou Sugi_ - A Sugi tree is the native term for a Japanese Cedar. And when looking up the oldest trees on the planet, I saw that there were some Sugi trees. They had a specific name, basically '(something) Sugi', so I stuck with that theme. Kyuujou (丘上) means 'Hilltop', and thus, his name means "Hilltop Cedar", named for obvious reasons.


	2. Ch 1 - The Spirit is Disturbed

And here is Chapter 1!

I actually wasn't expecting this to get any attention at all, but it seems a few people have taken intrest, so I will continue for them!

Enjoy!

* * *

It was as normal of a day as it could be for a tree spirit. He glanced at the sky from atop his Hokora. Kinda cloudy, Kyuujou could sense rain coming, but the little bit of sun warmed his lightly tanned skin.

Maybe he'd get to see that pleasant Ame-onna, Mariko, and her son Toki, the Amefurikozou.

Kyuujou then yawned lazily, stretching out the kinks in his joints. He adjusted the back ties of his brown and green, leaf patterned áo yếm and then fixed the himo on his brown hakama. The wind played with his long braided pine green hair as he rubbed sleep from his dark brown eyes.

"Note to self; if dealing with Yokai that use fire, get Haruka and Yui to detain them immediately instead of trying to do it yourself. Damn chicken nearly burnt my hair off... Ended up wasting a lot of energy..." He muttered to himself. Hopping off his Hokora, his sandled feet not making a single sound, he began down the well worn path to the rest of the park, where the pond he usually met with the other spirits that resided in or passed through Karakura to discuss any problems and the like, was. It didn't take long, the pond was just down the path, off to one side. Kyuujou yawned again as he observed who all was there.

Matsu, a local Kappa from the river, was soaking in the pond chatting amicably with Akemi, a young Kodama who resided in the Cherry trees around the city. Kyuujou rose an eyebrow at seeing the Saito's, a family of Kitsune who lived on the other side Karakura. Hanako, the five-tailed matriarch of the family, was speaking with a well dressed spirit he didn't recognise, most likely a traveling spirit. The six-tailed patriarch, Kaoru, was watching their twins play a little farther off with a Bakeneko child and a Hitotsume-Kozou.

"Good morning, everyone." Everyone looked up as he greeted them. "I apologise if I have kept you waiting."

"Nonsense. I heard about the Basan that was causing problems yesterday. We know how you get around spirit that use fire." Matsu said, brushing off Kyuujou's apology.

"Oh? Any word on it?" Kyuujou then asked.

"Actually, that's part of why I'm here. Yui-kun informed me late last night that he and Haru-chan had been able to capture it and pass it on to other spirits outside your territory to a more rural one." Matsu explained. Kyuujou let out a sigh of relief. There was one problem out of his hair.

"And the other part?"

"Oh, just that if it rains today, the river is going to heavily swollen. It already rained somewhere upstream, so it's started to swell. Any more heavy rain, and there is a risk of it overflowing." Kyuujou nodded. While not exactly a problem, warnings like this will allow him to ask someone to look out for humans who might end up in the river, accidentally or not.

"Thank you for that." He then turned to the other Kodama. "And what of you, Akemi?" The younger feminine spirit shook her head.

"I should probably go last, Kyuujou-sama. My inquiry might take a while to go over." She politly declined. The elder tree spirit nodded, and walk to the Kitsune and their guest. Now, that he was closer, he could tell the suit wearing spirit was a Baku. It had been a while since any had passed through, so he hadn't recognized the nightmare eating spirits spiritual signature right off the bat.

"Good morning, Hanako, Kaoru. How have things been? And how is your business?" He smiled at the couple. They ran an apartment complex that catered to spirits, thus the 'living on the other side of Karakura,' since it was closer to downtown.

"Very well, we decided that since we needed to come speak with you, we could take Ayame and Ayumu and some of their friends to the park." The female fox explained. "And it's actually a bit about our business that we've come to see you."

"Oh?" Kyuujou raised a brow, looking towards the nightmare-eater. "It is something about you, is it not?"

"Y-Yes, Kyuujou-dono." The Baku stammered nervously. "My name is Futakiri Genji, and I wish to live here. Saito-sama said that I first needed your permission and blessings to do so, so..." Kyuujou chuckled at the young spirit.

"You have no reason to be nervous, nor to try and use archaic speech. Please forgive myown speech patters, as I have been told to try and modernize my speech, but I have found very little reason to." He explained. "As for the rest, as long as you are not causing a disturbance among the humans, I will allow you to live here. You have my blessings." Genji's face lit up.

"T-Thank you, Kyuujou-dono!"

'I guess "dono" is as low as I'll get on his heirarchy if he's calling _Hanako_ of all people "_sama_."'

"Well, with that done, let's write up the paper work and get you moved into your new apartment ASAP!" Hanako cheered, then turned to her husband. "Dear, would you mind staying with the children a little longer? It has been a while since they got to run around this much."

"Of course I wouldn't. You go help Futakiri-san settle in, I'll bring the kits back before dinner." The elder fox beamed, earning him a peck from his wife. Then the Kitsune and Baku duo left the park, with the other pair waving them off.

"It's amazing how you two can still act like newly weds after 350 years." Kyuujou chuckled again.

"Yes, so it would seem that way." Kaoru chuckled as well. Then the children began making a much louder ruckus, prompting the pair to glance back at them.

"You lot better not be fighting over there!" The male fox called to them. "Sorry, looks like I have to go now." They nodded a farewell to eachother as Kaoru stomped over to the children, ready to physically tear them apart if necessary.

The tree spirit chuckled to himself, then turned to his fellow tree spirit.

"Now, what was it that you wanted to speak to me about, Akemi?"

"Well, you see..." She fidgited in place for a moment before continueing. "It seems that the shinigami have been on high alert lately. I believe there is a troublesome Hollow abound."

"Oh?" Kyuujou raised a brow at her statement. She nodded, then continued.

"I'm not exactly sure of all the details. I've reasoned that it is a very intelligent Hollow if it can give the Shinigami the slip for so long, and I believe that the Hollows abilities somehow amplify that. I don't know if it will attack other spirits, but it is not bad for us to be on alert either." Kyuujou furrowed his brow at the news. While Hollows didn't normally attack non-human spirits that weren't Shinigami, like themselves, it wasn't unheard of for an arrogant one to try, and the only time they had ever succeeded was with the child and child-like spirits. And the power a Hollow could gain, even from a small spirit, was unnerving and disasterous.

And Kyuujou wouldn't be having that anytime soon, not under his watch.

"Thank you, Akemi. I will have word sent out for residents to keep an eye out. I'm not having anyone caught off guard." Akemi nodded and smiled with relief, then bowed before vanishing from sight.

Kyuujou sighed once more. Hollows only became problems for him if they were clever. And by the Cherry Kodama's words, this one was. It didn't matter how weak the Hollow was or how strong he was, if the Hollow was smart enough, it could even take a powerful spirit like himself out, no matter how unlikely it seemed. He shook his head, no worth thinking of anything like that at the moment, he had an alert to send.

He could ask a few of the small forest creatures and birds to send the warning local, but he would need to summon a few Shikigami to get the message out of Karakura and to the other districs as soon as possible.

_*plipplip plip*_

Aaaaaand there's the rain. (Not like it could really touch him, he just misses the sun sometimes.)

Kyuujou sighed for what felt like the hundreth time. So much for any prospect of a peaceful morning. He decided to return to his tree, plucking a long blade of grass from the hill, before hopping his way up through the branches to a decent height. Bringing the piece of grass to his lips, he used it as a whistle, a shrill of a sound echoing in the wind. Almost instantly, several small birds and a few squirrles came to him, waiting for instruction.

"Thank you for heading my call." Kyuujou smiled at the animals. "I need a message sent out..." He relayed the warning and allowed the animals to scatter after. Now, summoning the shikigami. Kyuujou hopped from the end of the branch he stood on, unpreturbed by the dizzying height. His decent slowed as he closed in on the ground, a simple manipulation of the energies in the air, and landed softly on his feet in front of his hokora.

Upon turning to face the stone structure, the right half of Kyuujou's body began to light up, a pale, thin, green light swirling from a point on his chest outward, taking on the pattern of vines growing on his skin. The vines of light creeped down his right arm and leg and up the right side of his face. Once they stopped growing, he lifted his right arm, the tip of his first finger lighting up with the same pastel light. He drew a simple pentacle in the air, and once finished, held his hand out flat as if to push on the now glowing circle-and-star in the air in front of him.

"By my name as the Sugi Kodama, Kyuujou, I ask thee, Shikigami, to heed my call! O, Shiki of wind! With thy swiftness and grace! Come forth, and fufill my request!" He chanted.

The pentacle flashed briefly, before bursting into four lights and flying into the sky. The lights then flew back down, this time in the form of Swallows made of the same pale veridian light.

"Thank you." Kyuujou smiled at the spirits. After repeating what he told the animals, the swallow shaped servent spirits flew up, gliding skyward in a spiraling collum, then finally shooting off in different directions.

The rain was coming down fairly hard now. Hopefully Matsu remembered to get a spirit or two to help him keep an eye on any humans near the river. Now, what to do...?

The Hollow was definitely a priority. Maybe he should seek out a Shinigami and ask for information on exactly what kind of Hollow to look out for. Kyuujou had become familiar with some of the more infamous Hollows that were able to elude death, so he wondered if it was one of them.

It's not like he could get in any real trouble for killing a Hollow either. Hollows that had been killed off by nature spirits (or even demons) were indeed purified, it's just that instead of the consumed souls going to the Soul Society, the souls jumped straight into the reincarnation process. So really, a spirit killing off a Hollow here and there kept Soul Society from having overflowed a long time ago.

He just really didn't want to deal with annoying ignorant Shinigami that tried to kill him for doing their job for them. And he didn't want a whole army on him simply because he had to scare off a few of the with his enormous Reitsu. He was lucky to have met the Head Captain of the Shinigami, as well as his pupils, a long time ago, they usually vouched for him when some low ranked dumbass raised an alarm on him.

Kyuujou sighed again. This just wasn't his week. First the Basan (fucking fire-breathing chicken), and now a Hollow warning, and the rain swelling up the river was just icing on the cake. Busy, busy...

"Amaterasu-sama, Mother Goddess to us all, give me the patience to deal with the coming trials." He mumbled as he massaged his temples.

(He shouldn't have said that.)

His senses were sent out, allowing him to pick up on the Reiryoku of every spirit, human or not, in a good portion of the town. He centered his senses on the area of the river. He could sense Matsu far upstream, and Yui, Amaterasu bless that Yosei, was near one of the bridges. Then, he suddenly caught two signatures of Reiryoku that he didn't automatically recognise.

The two were on the path next to the river. One he had no real clue as to what it was but it felt somewhat powerful, and the other felt oddly both weaker and more powerful, like it should have been more powerful, but the person was hiding it or it was tied off to something else as well, and it was also familiar somehow.

He could also tell these were human signatures. (At least, mostly human, he thinks.)

'Where have I felt that odd one before...?' He mused through his memories, looking for why it was familiar, only to hault it when one of the signatures made a beeline for the river.

'What the-!?' The odd one followed the first, and that was when a third signature made itself known.

A _Hollow_ signature.

"_Shit!_" Kyuujou bolted up through the trees, and raced for the river. If that Hollow got ahold of something with Reiryoku that strong...

Let's just say, it's not gonna be pretty for the Shinigami.

The odd energy then flared. Was it fighting back?

'I know that energy, I know it, but why can't I remember?!' He was almost there when _another_ strange thing happened. There was a strange waver in the odd energy, then something like a snap, and then he thought he saw a light fly off, the feeling of the odd power with it. Just what was going _on?_

Kyuujou finally reached the river, and his eyes widened at the sight.

"What in the..." There, lying in the grass bleeding with a monster above her, was-

_(A young girl with a bow made of energy._

_A black monster with a white, horned mask._

_A man in black robes sheilding her from a blast.)_

"Kurosaki... Masaki?!" Kyuujou gasped. Yes, he knew who she was, Kyuujou knew of every human in Karakura with even a minorly above normal spiritual pressure. He hadn't truely felt the Quincy woman's Reiryoku in so many years that he had forgotten how it had felt like.

And the Hollow, a large, vaguely rodent looking thing with a lure-like tentacle on its back. He somewhat recognized it. What was it's name? Something about fish...

'Not now!' He scolded himself. 'Think about that later! There is still the first energy.'

Now, where was the other...?

A fleck of orange under Masaki caught his attention. He blinked, and something like horror flitted on his face.

'A... child?'

A child. A _child_ was the other energy. And if the Hollow had noticed the child then...

Kyuujou's body moved faster than his brain. In an instant, he stood between the Hollow and the humans, his Reitsu flaring angerly.

The Hollow flinched back, surprised by the powerful being suddenly before him. He tried growling at the Kodama, only to get an increase in the spirit's reitsu, nearly to crushing pressure.

"Ye vile fiend of hunger and naught," Kyujou growled back, his reistu lashing out at the Hollow. "Begone from my territory. Or doest thou have the courage to face _me_?"

"Che! You will have your way this time, Spirit! But, one day you will pay!" The Hollow grunted, then quickly vanished into the treeline in a burst of speed. Kyuujou tracked its Reiryoku until he could no longer feel that either.

Kyuujou finally allowed himself to relax. He then spun around and moved to kneel down to look over the damage. Blood pooled on Masaki's shirt, the rain making it soak and blur into her clothes even more. By the ashen complexion, still form, and dull gaze in her half-lidded eyes, she was already dead.

Kyuujou gritted his teeth. He would admit that hadn't known the woman well, but they had talked on a few occasions and he had watched over her when he could. She was a resiliant and wonderful woman, full of life, love, and kindness. There would be much mourning for her, even from him.

'_If I had been a little faster...'_

"Nng..."

Kyuujou was startled out of his dark musings. He looked to the child, Masaki's child probably, who seemed to be waking up. Kyuujou then began to panic a bit.

'Wait, with that kind of Reiryoku, he'd be able to- _Shit!_' He quickly jumped up. 'I need to go, if he sees me, who knows what might happen!' Kyuujou then bolted for a tree nearby, hiding himself among the branches.

Once the boy woke up, Kyuujou began to wish he had left entirly. Watching the orange haired boy wake to the horror that is his dead mother, watching him cry and beg for her to wake up, watching him fruitlessly call for help.

Kyuujou had to force himself not to leave the tree for the boy, to not alert him to the Kodama's presence. He wanted to so badly comfort the boy, but he couldn't. The boy would immediately know something is off with him, from his strange and undrenched appearence, and his odd maner of speaking.

So, all he could do was watch the boy. Kyuujou knew the boy's father was coming, and Kyuujou was sure he had probably scared off most every negative spirit in the area. He would be fine, physically.

But, mentally? It was really up to the child. If he allowed himself to move on from this with time, or be stuck by it and never grow. But, one thing was for sure.

Kyuujou wouldn't let the boy fall so far as to begin hurting himself, or further than hurt...

(He _really_ shouldn't have said that.)

* * *

And there you have it! Now it is time for Terminology!

_áo yếm_ - A Vietnamese bodice top that consist of a front, square or diamond-shaped cloth, that hung over the chest, while it was tied around the neck with ties and back with the rest of the cloth or ties as well, depending on the style. It is often compaired to Halter tops. It originated from a Chinese undergarment called a dù dōu.In ancient times, it was simply called a yếm, and worn traditionally by woman in the northern region of Vietnam. I will get to _why_ Kyuujou is wearing a supposedly female garment in a later chapter.

_Himo_ - The straps that secure Hakama. There are four total, two longer ones attached to either side of the fron, and two shorter attached to either side of the rear. There are several other parts to a Hakama that help hold it in place, but that would take a while to explain.

_**Archaic speech**_ - Bolded for emphasis, cause this is gonna be important and LONG. As I'm sure some people know, the Japanese have numerous amounts of different pronouns. Now, most people who watch anime only recognize the modern pronouns (Atashi, Watashi, Boku, Ore). Only if you're really paying attention, you will sometimes notice other pronouns, like the Kansai/Osaka-ben _Jibun _and_ Uchi._ And these are just pronouns for _I_. (They got a whole 'nother books worth of stuff on You pronouns.) All of their pronous are used to convey the speaker's gender, age, social status, and relation to the one being spoken to.

Now, if you listen in shows set in ancient time, or have a saumrai theme (such as Ruroni Kenshin and Sengoku BASARA, or even Bleach itself) you'll get pronouns that are Archaic. One character in Bleach (manga spoilers so I can't say who) uses the archaic feminine I pronoun, _Warawa_. (Not to be confused with _Ware wa._) And Byakuya uses an archaic You pronoun, _Kei_, when talking to other captains (when he's not mad at them). I'd say I'd of had Genji up there use something like _Sessha_ and _Kiden_, Sessha being basically the equivalant of 'Your humble servant'.

Since japanese is so different and I can only throw so much Shakesperean speech, below, I will make a list of I and You pronouns I'd think Kyuujou would use and the context of when he would.

I pronouns;

_Ware_ - A usually masculine I, it holds a dignified overtone and is rather literary. Kyuujou's default "I", and is used in spell casting. Part of the esteemed value of it is because it shares the same chinese character for I (Wo).

_Shousei_ - A self-depreciating I used by men with their equals or subordinants. Kyuujou would probably use this when talking to someone he respects, like Kyoraku, Ukitake, most likely Unohana once he meets her, and Yamamoto, or a closer friend, like the Saitos.

_Wagahai_ - Congradulations! If Kyuujou is using the archaic equivalant to _Ore-sama_, you have seficiently pissed him off! Like Grand Fisher, for instance. He's mostly declaring his status as a sort of Demi-god with this.

That's all for now, on to the You pronouns;

_Kiden_ - Used when addressing equals or superiors in a respectful manner. Kyuujou would probably only use this with the Head Captain, or a spirit that is older than him.

_Kei_ - Yes, the pronoun Byakuya uses. Used when adressing peers with light respect, and when speaking to subjects and retainers in a familiar way. He would use this with Ukitake, Kyouraku, Unohana, and most of the other spirits. It can actually be use as a suffix, Kyou, like how Kimi becomes Kun when attached to a name, and mean something along the lines of "Sir/Dame" or "Lord/Lady".

_Kikou_ - Used to address those equal/inferior to yourself, it comes off as a bit hauty. He uses this with all the other shinigami.

_Nanji_ - Is actually "Thou". Only used in spells.

_Onushi_ - Implies the speaker is equal or superior to you in social standing or class. Used with aquantances and new people.

_Sonata_ - An informal and familiar You, originally used as a way to speak to those inferior to you with respect, though modern times have altered that a bit, so now it is more of an archaic form of _Kimi_ or _Anata._ He uses this with those very close to him, like the Saitos, and later, Ichigo, or in an informal setting with the Captains after everything that happens.

_Unu_ - And here is the other part of Kyuujou's angry speech! Very old and _Very_ insulting. This is the "Thee/Thou" you will see outside of spells and incantations that I will use, such as, again, with Grand Fisher.

Whew! That's it I believe. TVtropes is a godsend.

Anyways, if you read all that, I comend your dedication. Tell me how I did guys, and I'll get the next part up as soon as possible.


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